Date: 20000811
Docket: IMM-6100-99
BETWEEN:
SARA DANIEL
Applicant
- and -
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
REASONS FOR ORDER
TREMBLAY-LAMER J.:
[1] This is an application for judicial review of a decision of the Convention Refugee Determination Division of the Immigration and Refugee Board ("CRDD") dated November 23, 1999, wherein the CRDD determined that the applicant was not a Convention refugee.
[2] The female applicant is an 18 year old citizen of Eritrea. Her claim for Convention refugee status is based on religious grounds and a membership in a particular social group. She claims to be a practicing Jehovah"s Witness and that her family had a long-standing involvement with a congregation of Jehovah"s Witnesses.
[3] On October 6, 1999, the applicant appeared before a one-person panel of the CRDD.
[4] At the hearing, the applicant had a witness who knew her from Eritrea testify in support of her claim.
[5] At the conclusion of the hearing, the panel allowed the applicant more time within which to provide further evidence in support of her claim. In this respect, the parties discussed and agreed upon a procedure to be followed.
[6] The hearing was adjourned. The applicant was given two weeks within which to submit three documents to the CRDD, namely the applicant"s witness" Personal Information Form, the Reasons for his successful refugee claim, and a letter from a Jehovah"s Witnesses congregation in Toronto that the applicant claimed to have attended for a year on a weekly basis. The letter was to confirm the applicant"s attendance and affiliation with that congregation.
[7] The requested letter was not submitted by the applicant within the agreed upon time, or at any time afterward.
[8] A negative decision in the claim was rendered, dated November 23, 1999.
[9] The CRDD concluded that the applicant failed to provide sufficient evidence in support of her claim based on her affiliation with the Jehovah"s Witnesses religion.
[10] The applicant takes issue with the reasonableness of the CRDD"s conclusion that the applicant did not provide evidence sufficient to substantiate her claim as a Jehovah"s Witness.
[11] In the present case, the CRDD found that the applicant could not provide detailed consistent evidence concerning when and where she worshipped as a Jehovah"s Witness, either in Canada or overseas. I have reviewed the transcript of the hearing, and am of the view that such a conclusion was reasonably open to the CRDD on the material before it.
[12] For the foregoing reasons, the application for judicial review is dismissed.
"Danièle Tremblay-Lamer"
JUDGE
OTTAWA, ONTARIO
August 11, 2000.